West McCleary exit still closed

Aug. 21, 2018

State Route 8 remains bottlenecked for a few miles at McCleary. This has been a very long construction project.

8 Aberdeen

July 29, 2018

I have lost track how long this detour thing has been going on. Long enough for me to get used to seeing these orange signs be part of the normal landscape.

The detour has resulted in more people from out of town using the eccentric intersection of Simpson/Summit/Third/Main streets, which has now become a case study in anarchy.

The black "up" arrow next to a white silhouette of our first president which has a big "8" numeral in it on an orange background is something Marcel Duchamp would have loved.

Old railroad bed

July 9, 2018

Looks like the City is about to perform some road work on these odd depressions in West Oak Street. By coincidence, or not, this particular swath is where the Henry McCleary Timber Company's  railroad was until the 1930s. The railway ran south between present day 4th and 5th streets and then turned east all the way to Mud Bay, more of less following what is now State Route 8. Vestiges of the old railway bed can still be seen in the empty lot in the background of this photo.

Although the photo has failed to really capture it, this road marking is an inadvertent and wonderful piece of abstract art.

Road closed

June 28, 2017

The west freeway exit is closed for a couple years while work is being done on Wildcat Creek as it converges with SR 8.

The history of Dink, the locomotive

Dec. 15, 2012. If I'm not mistaken, Dink is one of the oldest locomotives in the State of Washington.

Henry McCleary had a railroad that climbed the hill going south between present 4th and 5th streets, and then turned west, following the present SR8 to Mud Bay. Some of the railroad beds are still visible. The track was built with labor imported from Japan. In the 1930s the track was dismantled and the metal sold to Japan.

Foggy sunrise

Aug. 14, 2016.

The old saying is that in McCleary you hear either the freeway or the door plant. But on early Sunday mornings the town can be magically quiet. Photo taken from Rabbit Hill.

Cobain was here

The freeway mileage sign outside of McCleary on westbound SR 8 made famous in a photo by Kurt Cobain and a pal where Kurt covered up the numerals 1 and 2, leaving a "666" message. June 8, 2013

The Old and New, 410 and SR 8

A place where the old Highway 410 (William McCleary Rd.) runs parallel with the new SR 8, looking east. The final part of SR 8 to be completed between McCleary and Olympia was in the Ranch Kitchen area, between the Summit Lake exits, in the summer of 1964.

That 60 mph speed limit sign back in the 1960s-1970s was 70 mph, which meant people drove at 80 mph in huge cars like it was normal.  Needless to say, the freeway carnage was significant.

June 2, 2011

Dead Man's Curve

The William McCleary Road was named after Henry McCleary's brother. Over the years that stretch of road has been renamed simply "McCleary Road" but on this blog I'll refer to it as I have always known it.


The two lane road was formerly State Highway 410 and served as the main route between Olympia and Aberdeen until State Route 9 (later renamed State Route 8) was completed in the late 1950s-early 1960s. In the old 410 days, this pictured part of the road was called "Dead Man's Curve" and was regularly decorated with white crosses.

June 2, 2011

Entering Grays Harbor County

May 15, 2013

Coming from Thurston County it can frequently be sunny, until you hit the Grays Harbor County border 3 miles before you reach McCleary. The boundary for the Grays Harbor/Puget Sound drainage basins is about at this point. There are a few homes here in Thurston County that have a McCleary mailing address and are part of the Grays Harbor PUD.

This 3 mile cut from the county border on SR 8 to McCleary didn't exist until about 1910. Prior to that, wagons went over the Hicklin Hill to the north and connected to the present Tornquist Road. It took a wagon from Olympia all day to reach this point and in this area there stood a two-story inn  known as the Halfway House, since it was halfway between Olympia and Grays Harbor. J.T. Hicklin, who lived in this area and settled when U.S. Grant was President, was an early settler who constructed the road.

Hicklin's name still exists today on part of the road. Some of the street signs humorously say "Hickland" Road.

Misty commute

Launching into SR 8 on the way to work, driving into the misty shrouded sunrise. Apr. 22, 2013

Oak Street sunset

Seeing the sun at all at this time of year is remarkable in itself. Apr. 5, 2012

Before SR 8 was constructed Oak Street used to continue onward and was connected to Sand Creek Road.

Another safe arrival in the carport

Commuting on SR 8 in a sedan in the snow is not a fun experience. Arriving home alive and in one piece is sometimes worth documenting. Feb. 25, 2011